Kodiak is a core project in the Berachain ecosystem DEX track. As the protocol with the highest TVL on Berachain to date, Kodiak has firmly established its position as an ecosystem liquidity hub and demonstrated strong capital absorption and market organization capabilities in the early stages.

In early November 2025, Kodiak further launched the Kodiak Perp product, officially entering the on-chain derivatives track, opening higher-frequency and more capital-efficient trading scenarios for Berachain, and pushing the development of the on-chain derivatives market into a new stage. As of January 5, the total trading volume of Kodiak Perp has exceeded $1 billion. With the launch of TGE, a new round of trading incentive plans, and the VIP system successively going live, the trading activity and market size of Kodiak Perp are expected to continue expanding.

Entering 2026, Kodiak also announced multiple new product developments. These updates not only strengthen the protocol’s depth and product matrix but also provide more momentum and space for liquidity expansion and application deployment across the Berachain ecosystem.

Support for Perpetual Contracts Trading of Gold and Silver

On January 10, Kodiak Perps announced the official launch of $XAU (Gold) and $XAG (Silver) perpetual contracts, supporting up to 20× leverage trading. All related trades can participate in the Kodiak New Year $69,000 trading competition, further increasing market participation and trading activity. This also marks another significant expansion of Kodiak Perps in terms of asset coverage and trading structure.

In fact, compared to mainstream crypto assets, gold and silver have fundamentally different risk-return profiles and macroeconomic attributes. They are not driven by single narratives or technical cycles but are long-term anchored to global macroeconomics, inflation expectations, interest rate cycles, and safe-haven demand. Price fluctuations more often reflect real-world capital flows and macroeconomic judgments. This gives $XAU and $XAG in the on-chain derivatives system inherent low correlation, strong hedging properties, and clearer pricing logic, providing traders with strategic space distinct from native crypto assets, especially suitable for macro hedging, cross-market arbitrage, and risk balancing.

From a platform and ecosystem perspective, the launch of precious metal perpetual contracts has multiple positive implications for Berachain. On one hand, it significantly broadens the tradable asset boundaries on Berachain, systematically introducing macro asset pricing dimensions for the first time, and enhances the ecosystem’s appeal to professional traders and cross-market capital; on the other hand, the trading behavior of such assets tends to be more persistent and capital-intensive, helping to improve the depth, stability, and capital efficiency of the overall derivatives market.

For Kodiak, the introduction of $XAU and $XAG not only reinforces the positioning of Perps as a comprehensive derivatives trading hub and further expands the platform’s user base but also consolidates its key role in supporting high-frequency trading and core liquidity within the Berachain ecosystem. This shift is gradually moving Berachain’s on-chain financial system from “crypto-native trading” toward a multi-asset derivatives ecosystem closer to real global market structures.

New VIP Staking Incentive System

Kodiak is also simultaneously improving its incentive and cost structure around perpetual contracts. The Kodiak VIP staking system has now officially launched, beginning to offer more explicit and sustainable long-term benefits for active traders.

Focusing on the Kodiak VIP system, it uses $KDK /xKDK staking as the core entry point, unlocking different VIP levels based on staking scale, which correspond to discounts on perpetual contract trading fees. Through a layered design, Kodiak VIP levels are dynamically adjusted daily based on staking status, with the highest level being Diamond, offering up to 75% fee discounts on Kodiak Perps. This directly links fee levels to users’ long-term engagement with the protocol.

It’s worth noting that xKDK used to unlock VIP levels is not limited to a single purpose. While obtaining fee discounts, stakers can still participate in protocol incentives and governance mechanisms, avoiding fragmentation of funds across different rights and maintaining high overall efficiency. The fee discount applies to the fee portion on Kodiak’s side, taking effect after the basic execution fee settlement, making the transaction cost structure clearer and more predictable.

In practice, the VIP system benefits high-frequency and professional traders by effectively reducing trading costs. With lower costs, more frequent and complex trading strategies can be stably executed in Berachain’s perpetual markets, moving beyond phase-based participation. Additionally, this mechanism further expands the practical scenarios for $KDK . The token no longer only serves governance or incentives but also participates directly in transaction cost pricing, creating a closer link between its value and real trading activity.

On a macro level, the VIP staking system and Perps season points mechanism form a clear positive feedback loop: trading activity generates fee and point accumulation, which incentivizes conversion into xKDK, increasing VIP levels, further lowering trading costs, and driving trading volume growth. This structure helps transition Berachain’s derivatives market from an early incentive-driven phase toward a steady state driven by real trading demand and capital efficiency.

For Kodiak, the VIP system is an important step toward maturity of its perpetual contract ecosystem, providing traders and the ecosystem with a more long-term participation pathway.

$KDK Has Integrated with Lending Protocol Dolomite, Opening a New Capital Application Scenario

Beyond derivatives, Kodiak’s native token $KDK is rapidly moving into a more core on-chain capital layer.

Following the completion of TGE and entering free circulation, Kodiak continues to promote the real usability of its token within the Berachain ecosystem. The latest development is that $KDK has officially integrated with the lending protocol Dolomite, becoming one of the assets usable for collateral, borrowing, and capital scheduling, marking KDK’s further step from “governance and incentive token” into a composable productive asset class.

Dolomite is one of the capital-efficient lending markets in the current DeFi space, characterized by highly modular risk parameters, rapid adaptation to new assets, and a capital structure friendly to professional trading and leverage strategies. In multiple ecosystems, Dolomite often acts as a “capital hub,” enabling assets to be reused repeatedly rather than held statically.

Integrating $KDK into Dolomite significantly enhances KDK’s financial attributes. Holders no longer need to choose between “participating in the ecosystem” and “maximizing capital efficiency.” They can retain exposure to KDK while unlocking liquidity through collateralized borrowing for trading, market making, or participating in other native Berachain protocols. This structure directly increases KDK’s usage frequency and on-chain turnover.

More importantly, this integration has strategic significance for Kodiak and the Berachain ecosystem. On one hand, making KDK a collateralizable asset helps embed the Kodiak protocol into a broader capital cycle, creating tighter links among DEX, Perps, and lending markets. On the other hand, this “protocol token → lending layer → trading layer” closed loop attracts more professional and scaled capital into the ecosystem, beyond short-term liquidity.

In the longer term, KDK’s integration with Dolomite signifies that Berachain’s ecosystem is building a more complete financial pathway. When native protocol tokens can be repeatedly utilized across multiple core DeFi modules, the ecosystem’s capital efficiency and retention capacity will improve accordingly. This not only enhances KDK’s long-term utility but also solidifies Kodiak’s role as a core liquidity and capital hub within Berachain.

Conclusion

Driven by a series of updates, Kodiak is gradually evolving from a spot liquidity hub to include perpetual markets, lending capital layers, and a staking and incentive system built around trading activity, forming a core financial infrastructure on Berachain with depth, frequency, and capital circulation capabilities.

As multi-asset perpetual contracts, protocol tokens’ collateralization, and real trading volume-driven incentive structures are gradually implemented, Berachain’s financial ecosystem is moving toward a more mature market form—higher capital efficiency, clearer risk pricing, and an environment more suitable for long-term participation by professional funds.

Looking ahead, as more trading scenarios and capital pathways are activated, Kodiak is expected to continue playing a key role in Berachain’s liquidity and derivatives markets, while the Berachain ecosystem itself transitions from infrastructure building to a new growth cycle driven by real trading demand. This evolution may become the core of its long-term competitiveness.